


There Is Another

by Ma_Kir



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017), Star Wars: Poe Dameron (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Church of the Force, Gen, Jakku, Jakku Observatory, Jedi, Mirrors, Star Wars: The Last Jedi Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 00:51:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13329999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ma_Kir/pseuds/Ma_Kir
Summary: Kylo Ren lied to Rey about her parents onboard the Supremacy, but not for the reasons that you might think.





	There Is Another

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't come up with this idea myself. I'd heard about it being discussed, at length, online through one of my friends. And I also don't believe this is the canon explanation for Rey's origins. But damn, does it make for a good piece of fanfiction. 
> 
> Even so, there are Spoilers in this story. Reader's discretion is advised.

He honours her request. 

It's only fair, given everything that's happened between them, and what is about to occur. Kylo Ren reaches out with the Force, to the aura around Rey. He can sense the Light, radiant and uncomfortable around her, but it's muted by her own light. The former scavenger's presence feels as though it has encountered some form of darkness, a natural shadow in the galaxy. He recalls something similar from the presence of his old Master, off of ... Luke Skywalker. Kylo Ren recalls that Luke himself had touched the Dark Side a few times on his own, that it had reached out to him, but didn't have the strength or the will to do anything aside from avoid it. But there was one time, in particular, that Luke mentioned: a place on Dagobah, an old rotted tree over a cave that his own Master made him seek out ...

Had Rey found a Force nexus: a node of the Dark Side in the galaxy? 

Somehow, farsight comes easier to Kylo Ren at this point. It's strange, given how it has eluded him thus far for his own personal use beyond anticipating attacks and responding with his own accelerated reflexes. It is one thing to read a person's mind, or anticipate where a blow may land in advance, but to look into the past is something perhaps vaster than even piercing the ever-mutable future. The past is like a tree with deep roots that diverge into the darkness between the stars, fueled by the lifeblood of so many other sentients. The Force parts the grey curtains around Rey, around his perception of space and time itself, and his mind flows backward, his eyes focusing on her lightsaber.

His uncle's first lightsaber. His grandfather's lightsaber.

_A dark armoured figure battles a battered young man with sandy, dirty-blonde hair ontop a catwalk above the abyss. The young man scores a hit on the figure with his azure blade, glancing off of its shoulder, before it growls, slamming his arm away and cutting off his hand with its own crimson lightsaber._

_Grandfather?_ Kylo Ren thinks to himself, puzzled by this. Why is he seeing the past ... seeing Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader fight on Cloud City? That is the lightsaber's past. The artifact that she has made her own. It has nothing to do with the young woman in front of him.

Kylo Ren concentrates and the Force swirls around his mind again. 

_An old man and a small, orange alien walk side by side in a camp situated in the dunes._

_"... you found it." The smaller alien tells the cloaked older man, some puzzlement forming in small, mild eyes behind goggles. "So why do you need my help?"_

_"... old files, my old friend." The old human, Lor San Takka, replies. "Rumours. They are often the best source of information with regards to these matters. I am not gifted with the Force. Not like yourself, but this feels promising, almost ..."_

_"You should find him." The small humanoid, Maz Kanata, sighs. "You did find it with some of my help."_

_"... do not have the other piece, sadly." Lor San Takka murmurs. "... want to find him. The galaxy needs the Jedi. I know this favour will not come cheap ..."_

_Maz Kanata shakes her head. "... I can't even sense him anymore ... and he is hard to miss ... probably doesn't want to be found ... "_

_"Perhaps." The old man nods. "But if get this, he might ... symbol of hope ... very least, you have something for your collection."_

_"Pah." The old alien woman grumbles. "... can keep that." She strokes her chin. "...I will take_ that _as part of my payment, if it's there ..."_

_"... already excavating the Observatory ..." The two of them walk off, back into the village. "... happy hunting ..."_

_Maz Kanata? The "Pirate Queen" of Takodana? And Lor San Takka ..._ Kylo Ren had only heard rumours about Maz Kanata, but he remembers the old man from his dealings as his former Master's Padawan learner. Lor San Takka was a follower of the Church of the Force, a misguided group that worshiped the Jedi Knights and the relics that they left behind as aspects of the Force itself. They had somehow eluded the First Galactic Empire and survived, with the old man -- an explorer -- becoming invaluable to his Uncle in his foolish attempts to restore the Jedi Order through his knowledge of lost artifacts and lore. But he does recognize the planet. He should. He cut down Lor San Takka himself and ordered the flametroopers to burn the Church's village to the ground. All for the Map to Skywalker ... for his piece of it anyway. Was that what the old man said he got? 

Lor San Takka, a known Jedi-worshiper and Resistance sympathizer, had been on Jakku with another being who had ties to an anti-Imperial Pirate Queen who had been known for collecting obscure and esoteric artifacts for her personal collection. This had been a while ago. The old man's hair and beard weren't as white in his vision as they had been when he last encountered him. But what does this have to do with Rey? It is strange, to Kylo Ren, how easily the Force is speaking to him but not making any sense. He draws on his will and the fury inside him, frayed by the pain of his previous defeat, of facing his own father, and commands the Force to show him what he needs to know.

_In the sands, among many shattered Republic and Imperial ships, a motley crew of different beings are excavating something from the ground. It is what appears to be a ruined bunker. Lor San Takka and Maz Kanata watch as there is cheering. Something has been found._

_"... can't believe it." Maz Kanata murmurs, shaking her head. "That the Sith would keep something like that ..."_

_"... liked to keep relics of potential use to him ... the Emperor had many storehouses ... lost." Lor San Takka says as the crew bring out a variety of objects. "... couldn't have known they would be in this one ... if they even existed ... Always wondered what happened ..."_

_Maz Kanata turns to look at him, her small eyes piercing. "What do you intend to do, Lor San Takka?"_

_The old man shakes his head. "... honour my agreement ... rest of salvage divided between us ... You get_ it. _But one day ..."_

 _"Mm." Maz Kanata nods. "One day, someone might come for it. I_ know _..." Her eyes are piercing on the old man. "You didn't answer my question."_

_"... might not be able to find him in time." Lor San Takka looks sad as his people and Maz Kanata's work together. "Ever heard of the Creche?"_

_The alien blinks. "Jedi nursery?"_

_"No. Though similar principle ... a culture on Ovanis. They guarded an egg they believed would hatch a galactic saviour ... was a part of them for a time, learning their secrets." His gaze is faraway. "... secret, true secret, wasn't what was in the egg, in my opinion, but it was ... metaphor ... always metaphor ..."_

Kylo Ren remembers it. He was briefed on this. First Order troopers had attempted to apprehend the Resistance terrorist he ultimately found on Jakku. This is no coincidence. Poe Dameron had been searching for Lor San Takka there, and then found him on Jakku. Interestingly enough, the egg was reported to have had two creatures within it: a blue and black dragon respectively. The black killed the blue dragon, and attacked the troopers there. He recalls his Master, both of them, explaining to him how the Force often communicates in metaphor when it comes to farsight.

In points of view. 

Just like his former namesake. 

Then the visions continue ... They flash through Kylo Ren's mind. It seems like an eternity to him, but he knows that only seconds are passing for him and Rey onboard the ship. 

_Rey finds herself being drawn into a cave of mirrors, reflections of herself snapping their fingers all at the same time, until she faces a figure in a central mirror that no longer faces away from her. A young girl, Rey, scuttles among the wreckage of ships from the old Battle of Jakku, finding scraps and evading rival scavengers. A large alien holds her arm as she cries out, watching a ship fly away into the horizon never to be seen again ... Luke Skywalker screams as Darth Vader cuts off his hand, his severed limb and his father's lightsaber falling deep into the chasm of Cloud City, over Bespin ..._

_The hand and blade plummeting into the abyss ..._

_Lor San Takka and others gather around a cylinder. It is deep in the tents of their settlement and it stands out. The technology doesn't belong there, to this place or this time. The old man is talking to the others._

_"... Kaminoan ... why was it even there ..."_

_Another shakes their head. "... does it matter ... can train ... flash memory ..."_

_"No." Lor San Takka says, looking a little older, a little sadder. "... didn't work ... so many ..."_

_Rey sees reflections of herself, spanning before her, and after ..._

_"...needs more time ... to be a child."_ _He says, looking down at the cylinder. " ... others didn't make it ..."_

_"... this world is just like his was. Like his father's." Another member says. "... needs to grow. To be raised ..." They turn to the rest of them. "Isn't that what Project Crucible should be?"_

_A young Rey turns in scrap to the same alien that had her arm years ago. He gives her rations in exchange._

_"... will watch them ..." Another says. "... challenge them ... guide when possible ..."_

_People also watch her, from the shadows, from the hoods and cloaks of scavengers from time to time throughout her life, sometimes working with her, mostly unseen, creeping away back to their camp. She never knows._

_"Perhaps a meiotic cycle will work this time." Lor San Takka murmurs, looking at a shape in the cylinder that is hard to make out. "Mitosis rejected by the holy nature of the Force? ... so much ... don't know much time we have left ... almost like the Creche Egg." He touches the pod, stroking the luminous glass. "A saviour waiting ..."_

_Rey places another mark on the wall of her room inside her AT-AT camp. She watches the ship leave her on Jakku all over again._ _The old man, Lor San Takka, sees the ship leave her with the large alien. He starts towards them as they leave, him dragging her away, but hesitates ...  Then, he walks away, back to his people._

_"Creche Egg just like the Prophecy ... Chosen One ..." Lor San Takka sighs, back in the village. "... this world could forge her ... find her truth. So much chance ... so cruel ..." He bows his head down to the cylinder. "... give her to a family ... a couple will take her ... will watch ... will watch over her as she grows. The Force forgive me. The Force forgive us all ..."_

The last thing Kylo Ren sees as the Force retreats from his senses, dragging the past away from him, is Luke's severed hand and its lightsaber, Rey touching the lightsaber on Takodana within the chest his troops found empty in Kanata's Castle, and her wielding it against him on Starkiller Base. The determination in her brown eyes. The fire. His mother's features. His grandmother's. His great-grandmother's. 

But her. It is all _her_. 

_Perhaps Leader Snoke should consider using a clone army ..._

Kylo Ren has his mental shields up. But his mind is reeling as his own words to Hux come back to haunt him. Rey is looking at him so honestly. So earnestly. And that is when he makes the decision. It isn't really much of a decision to make. He doesn't know how this was possible. If it had ever been possible. Perhaps Supreme Leader had known, if he knew Force lore as well as he claimed. 

But then Kylo Ren can only think about a dead boy, a child named Ben Solo. He can only, if briefly, think about the cost of duty, of the burden of his lineage, and secrets, and what those things had done to his life. Perhaps Rey will join him. Or maybe he will kill her himself. But all he knows, right now, is that he can't do _this_ to her. For all of his power in the Dark Side, all of his commitment to its blackness, he can't find it in his heart to tell her the truth. He only wishes he could kill Lor San Takka and his Church again. A thousand deaths wouldn't begin to make up for this revelation, this final hypocrisy, this ... abomination that has nothing to do with the only person that has ever really bothered, truly attempted, to understand him. 

So he does something. For one last time, he lives up to the late Ben Solo's namesake. He tells her what he saw. He tells her that her parents were scavengers, like her, and they sold her for money before leaving to die drunk and useless elsewhere ... just as they did when she was placed with them. He told her they were nothing special. Yet while her beginnings were ... nothing special, she was ultimately special to him. And as he tells her this, as he holds out his hand, there is a part of his mind that remembers the two dragons that burst from the egg, and Lor San Takka's words ... and wonders which one of them is the blue, or the black? But just as thought comes into his mind, before Rey even makes her final decision, he realizes that it doesn't matter: none of it. Even if she knew the answer, she would respond to it as steadfastly as she always has, as she is about to do. 

And Kylo Ren decides that he will do exactly the same, telling her to let the past die. Kill it if you have to. 

 


End file.
